Private Communities Can Regulate Residents’ Speech, N.J. High Court Rules

Easing up on its propensity for imposing constitutional obligations on property owners, New Jersey's Supreme Court has ruled that private residential communities may regulate expressive activity within their borders. The justices held last week that a homeowners' association's rules regulating placement of political signs, charging rent for use of a community room and setting an editorial policy for its community newspaper were reasonable restrictions on time, place and manner of speech.